Best song on original issue of KILL UNCLE

"Sing Your Life," a sentimental favorite.

How can this be his weakest album when Malajusted and Ringleader of the Tormentors exists?

The first Moz solo album I bought. I'm still pretty fond of "Our Frank," but he's written it out of his history.

exists = exist

Driving Your Girlfriend Home. That swooping chorus just gets me.

"Driving Your Girlfriend Home" is one of the gayest songs never acknowledged as such.

You mean Morrissey is in love with the boyfriend?

Possibly, and the point of view too: the boy listening to the tale of woe, and to my ears he's not interested in her at all. It's like he's her gay pal.

My personal least favourite is Quarry. I'm just going by what I read and hear.

not much of a pal if you're not interested lol

uninterested = won't jump her bones

Now you've made me think of the song in a whole different way. "and I can't answer" means he knows but he can't tell her that her boyfriend is secretly gay.

Maladjusted is a better album than this one imo. Which isn't saying much, but still, it's got "Satan Rejected My Soul."

The swaths of echo and its languid pace adduce his detachment

xpost

Thing is you don't need to be gay to be disinterested in such things. You might pretend to be interested if you wanted to get into her knickers, but that's assuming you fancy her.

My God what was she doing there?

There is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends

The Loop and Pregnant for the last Time are both great tracks. Saw him do the Loop live twice in the early 90s and it was a highlight of both shows. For album tracks it's probably Mute Witness or End of the Family Line. I'm a sucker for his songs about the 'differently abled' and Family Line is a ballad almost on par with the best of the Smiths ballads.

love the "Cosmic Dancer" cover from this era

voted "Our Frank", but I never had a lotta time for this album. or really any of his albums. love the heck out of the singles through 1992 or so.

I went with 'Sing Your Life', but yeah, the non-album singles from around this time are so much better it's not even funny.

1) Sing Your Life

2) Mute Witness

Voted Sing Your Life which is in my Morrissey top 10 for sure. <3

"Mute Witness" sounds a bit like "Virginia Plain."

Mute Witness all the way.

"Sing Your Life", though the version on the "Live at KROQ" EP is where it becomes transcendent.

Have a fondness of sorts for 'There Is A Place In Hell', even the full band version. Probably got to give this to 'Our Frank' though. Struggling to make a decent case for it because in most respects this song (and album really) feels like Morrissey-lite. But it's sort of jaunty and catchy I suppose.

Things changed when Moz changed guitarists, against Clive Langers wishes I feel. He replaced Kevin Armstrong (Piccadilly Palare, November) with Mark Nevin for Kill Uncle. His new band appeared in the Sing Your Life video and played on the B-sides of that single and then on Pregnant onwards. So having Nevin as guitarist was responsible for the 'liteness'.

Sing Your Life

http://media.spincds.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/o/mossiseykilluncle.jpg

um

What exactly did the U.S. do to deserve 'Tony the Pony'?

Our frank and open
Miami Vice offices...

give it a rest woncha?

this album is so painfully terrible and awful

it's sort of like, if you're going to listen to this album, why don't you just hire someone to repeatedly kick you in the ears because it's about the same effect

</usefulthreadcontribution>

your frankly vulgar
dan palaver

seems odd that I have never listened to this album. I think I always skipped it cuz of the lack of hits

I actually like the new cover. Can't stand that he's put pashernate love on it though. Great song but from wrong period.

he should have used the old tour program cover for the reissue:

http://rockworldrocks.com/shopsite_sc/media/tb_morrissey_uncle.jpg

Edith Sitwell?

I can't imagine actually hating this album but god is it bland, tinny and utterly forgettable. How were the reactions at the time of release?

Rather generic xgau review:

What kills the faithful is the anonymously supportive production, never distinctive enough to threaten (or challenge) a fading superstar in the throes of permanent identity crisis. But though they do meander into the insufferably ruminative self-pity that never used to bother Smiths fans, the songs start out plenty striking, guitar signature or no guitar signature. Tart as a grand aunt, louder on the gay subtext now that he's no longer an antipinup, Morrissey isn't just another English eccentric. He exemplifies what's made eccentricity a staple export of that once-proud nation for generations. Good show. B+

king leer is my favorite

yeah that's Edith Sitwell

coulda sworn it was WS Burroughs in drag lol

The review in Melody Maker was one of the brutal I have known

David Quanitck gave it 4 stars in Select, LOL

Yes that was odd. He even referred to its 'twinkling insouciance' comparing it favourably to the subject of his NME review of Southpaw Grammar.

Liked it a lot, at the time. Can't remember when I last played it, mind.

at the time Your Arsenal came as a terrible disappointment compared to KU's languor.

voted for "Driving your GF Home" in the end

"Driving DJP Home"

"(Because He Stapled His Hands Together)"

Our Frank is a sparkling pop gem next to journalists who lie

I decided to listen to "Journalists who lie" based on this thread - what a dreadful song, dreadful production - what's with the deep reveb underwater bass gtr breaks? And all those stupid noises? And the drumming... Wish I hadn't bothered.

the other song about journalists also sounds like it was recoded in a tureen of broccoli cheese soup.

Reveb = reverb, obv.

Which one is that prince?

"The Harsh Truth That Morrissey's Songs Sucked in 1991"

I always thought that was about glamour photography

I liked Morrissey in 1991. Journalists Who Lie was just a shitty b-side though, even then. But I always rated this one in a similar though more fleshed-out style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQdyxaWUpY

Another good 1991 song (performance December 1990, but song released as b-side of My Love Life in 1991 - these details courtesy of my youth):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylwJJfCUFJk

These were the best of those times I think, and both have been left off the reissued Kill Uncle for some reason.

^^ oh yeah -- that's a good one

I think the shock with journalists was until that point he hadn't released anything remotely as bad. Even at amber and get off the stage had something about them.

Journalists was probably the first of his very clumsy and super-literal diatribes against those who had wronged him. He has millions of them now. The most extreme example of this - in its way the weirdest and funniest song by anyone ever - is Sorrow Will Come In The End from 1997. The only version on youtube has a weird montage of Iraq war photos, even though the song is about the drummer that Morrissey didn't bother to pay. This weedy voice threatening gang violence, totally embarrassing, "A man who slits throats has time on his hands". Remember that this song is about a drummer who had to go to court to get paid by Morrissey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srgmd956khA

"Lawyer!" (whipcrack) "Liar!" (whipcrack) "Lawyer!" (whipcrack) "Liar!" (whipcrack)

That song is desperate and sad. I wonder if the yiddish element is supposed to be menacing cos it's just embarassing. Also truly unforgiveable is that on ammunition on the same album he makes a big point of the fact that he has "no space or time in my life anymore for revenge".

My Love Life came out in 91?! Damn I always thought it came out a bit later - it could have really redeemed Kill Uncle

that EP was terrific

Kill uncle recorded before he met those guys

Place your bets on gulliable Tony...

He's drunker quicker
And he's sicker even quicker

in just before system to vote "none of the above"

this is why they dont let mods edit polls

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Only real surprise for me is Asian Rut.

who defends "Asian Rut"???

Check the wikipedia page for this album, for one

excerpt:

The next track is "The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye", often cited as Morrissey's most misunderstood song ever recorded.

by whom -- Morrissey?

How is that defending asian rut?

I referred to the "Camera Eye" comment.

So was I

Camera Eye is about soft porn.

How is that defending asian rut?

― OutdoorFish, Thursday, 7 March 2013 00:56 (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It isn't, the wiki page does.

Apart from saying that "camera eye" is the more 'misunderstood' track...

Only one person even mentioned it in this thread

I voted for Asian Rut. Great tune.

Tune?

what drugs are you on?

this is mozzer's worst album imo - which was esp baffling and frustrating at the time b/c he had just come off a run of amazing singles. thankfully the lull didn't last for long!

Journalists was probably the first of his very clumsy and super-literal diatribes against those who had wronged him. He has millions of them now. The most extreme example of this - in its way the weirdest and funniest song by anyone ever - is Sorrow Will Come In The End from 1997. The only version on youtube has a weird montage of Iraq war photos, even though the song is about the drummer that Morrissey didn't bother to pay. This weedy voice threatening gang violence, totally embarrassing, "A man who slits throats has time on his hands". Remember that this song is about a drummer who had to go to court to get paid by Morrissey:

I kind of like Sorrow Will Come in the End because it is so hilariously ott, but his bitter diatribes one of the worst things about Morrissey's solo career.

Maladjusted & Southpaw Grammar are fairly patchy as well, tho both repeatedly hit higher peaks than Kill Uncle. I can't really comment educatedly on his last two LPs tbh.

xp

from the pre-comeback era, I would find it hard to belive that Kill Uncle would be worse that Maladjusted or more boring than Southpaw - but then again I haven't listened to any of these records in 15 years

Its worse than southpaw. Maladjusted packs more a punch though it has a couple of horrible songs. It is better than Quarry though.

Seeing as Sing Your Life won, and it is my example of how the album's production ruined a song, can someone set up a "Best Live Version of Sing Your Life" poll?

Specifically, who doesn't like the KROQ version? Or am I overestimating it here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItawLAKv-4Y

Had this plan a while now, want to burn myself a CD with all the post Kill Uncle pre-Your Arsenal stuff. Starting with the loop and entertainment moving onto pregnant (with skin storm and cosmic dancer #1) my love life (with guilty) plus the KRQQ songs and the live pregnant from friends and cosmic dancer #2. Might put the fatty b-sides on just because I want to. Any thing else I should put on it?

Oh there's a live version of trash out there isn't there

The other live songs on We Hate It are pretty good too - there are versions of Changed My Plea and Alsatian Cousin that are rough as hell but kinda exciting.

Will have to include the live guilty, but cousin is too out of period for me. Is there a decent audio of tge johnathan ross guilty out there cos imo that is the best version there is.

Oh that's Linder at the end of mute witness.